Past Events
Middle East Knowledge Production In the Aftermath of October 7 | 2024 IMES Annual Conference
Friday, 4/19/2024, 9:00am - 3:30pm
Join the Institute for Middle East Studies for our 2024 Annual Conference on April 19th. The Conference will feature panels on academic freedom in the age of precarity and censorship, decolonizing MES knowledge-production, and knowledge-production amidst dehumanization.
Global Reactions to the Partition of Palestine and the 1948 War | 2024 Max Ticktin Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, 4/17/2024, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Join the GW History Department and GW Judaic Studies Program for the 2024 Max Ticktin Lecture featuring Prof. David Penslar.
The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, The C.I.A, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq
Tuesday, 4/16/2024, 1:30pm - 3:00pm
The Middle East Policy Forum and the Leadership, Ethics, and Practice Initiative at the Elliott School of International Affairs will host this conversation about Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll’s new book, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. Coll has written the definitive story of the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein. It is a deeply researched and news-breaking investigation into how human error, cultural miscommunication, and hubris led to one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time.
Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War
Thursday, 4/4/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
In 1948, a war broke out that would result in Israeli independence and the erasure of Arab Palestine. Over twenty months, thousands of Jews and Arabs came from all over the world to join those already on the ground to fight in the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces and the Arab Liberation Army.
The Digital Double Bind: Politics, Power and Platforms in the Middle East
Thursday, 3/21/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Join IMES and IPDGC for this lecture by Joe F. Khalil on his new book co-authored with Mohamed Zayani, The Digital Double Bind Change and Stasis in the Middle East.
Black Intifada: The Roots of Black and Palestinian Solidarity Movement
Wednesday, 3/20/2024, 1:00pm - 2:30pm
This talk will create a nuanced interdisciplinary context for the history of Black and Palestinian solidarity from the 1960s until the present day.
2024 Kuwait Chair Lecture: “1979: A Year that Changed the Middle East.”
Thursday, 3/7/2024, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
The Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and the Middle East Policy Forum cordially invite you to the 2024 Kuwait Chair Lecture, “1979: A Year that Changed the Middle East.” Ambassador (ret.) Gordon Gray hopes that you can join him, Kuwaiti Ambassador Al-Zain Al-Sabah, Elliott School Dean Dr. Alyssa Ayres, and other friends and colleagues for the luncheon and lecture.
Elastic Empire: Refashioning War through Aid in Palestine
Thursday, 2/29/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
The United States integrated counterterrorism mandates into its aid flows in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the early years of the global war on terror. Some two decades later, this securitized model of aid has become normalized across donor intervention in Palestine. Elastic Empire traces how foreign aid, on which much of the Palestinian population is dependent, has multiplied the sites and means through which Palestinian life is regulated, surveilled, and policed—this book tells the story of how aid has also become war.
Viva Voce: Faculty Series- Dr. Arshad Ali
Tuesday, 2/27/2024, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Viva Voce: Faculty Series was created to honor the importance of word-of-mouth storytelling that lies with the living voices, or viva voce. This month, we are honored to have Dr. Arshad Ali as our faculty Voice. Dr. Ali is an Associate Professor of Educational Research at GSEHD and works with colleges and universities, training students in bystander interventions, understanding the context of campus racial aggression, and how to address anti-Muslim racism and violence on campus. Please join us on Tuesday, Feb. 27th, from 1-2 pm in the MSSC for this amazing event!
Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria
Wednesday, 2/21/2024, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Join the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies and the Institute for Middle East Studies for the launch event for Amy Austin Holmes' new book Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria. This event is part of the Elliott School Book Launch Series.
Tensions in the Middle East: The War in Gaza, Iran, and the Houthis
Tuesday, 2/20/2024, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
As Israel's war in Gaza approaches its fifth month, fears of regional escalation are mounting as multiple nations target each other's territories in a series of escalatory strikes.
Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul
Thursday, 2/15/2024, 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Sarah El-Kazaz takes readers into the world of urban planning and design practices in Istanbul and Cairo. In this transnational ethnography of neighborhoods undergoing contested rapid transformations, she reveals how the battle for housing has shifted away from traditional political arenas onto private crevices of the city.
Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring
Tuesday, 2/13/2024, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Sharan Grewal, author of Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring, will highlight how dictators’ choices to either empower or marginalize the military creates legacies that shape both the likelihood of democratization and the forms by which it breaks down.
Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order
Tuesday, 2/6/2024, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
In the 2010s, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) mobilized a global media system to counter international criticism of its authoritarian practices and to position the country as a rising great power. Bilge Yesil examines the AKP’s English-language communication apparatus, focusing on its objectives and outcomes, the idea-generating framework that undergirds it, and the implications of its activities.
The Future Is Feminist: Women and Social Change in Interwar Algeria
Thursday, 1/25/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Join IMES for a discussion of Dr. Sara Rahnama's latest book The Future Is Feminist: Women and Social Change in Interwar Algeria.
Repression of Palestine Activism Amid the War on Gaza
Tuesday, 12/12/2023, 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Arab Center Washington DC and the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University are convening a panel of experts to discuss the most recent trends in repressing Palestine activism, strategies for defending the rights of dissenters, and expected future measures to silence Palestine sympathizers.
How to Read the Room: A Storyteller's Approach to Connecting with Students
Tuesday, 12/12/2023, 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Join us for this Arabic Teachers' Council Workshop on connecting with students via storytelling.
Understanding the Conflict in Israel & Palestine
Monday, 12/4/2023, 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Join us for a panel discussion on the conflict in Israel & Palestine sponsored by the Institute for Middle East Studies and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Anti-Racism Coalition.
Reading Current Events in the Arabic Classroom
Wednesday, 11/29/2023, 1:30pm - 2:30pm
This workshop will offer activities and address controversial topics to keep in mind when selecting news items for language learning to ensure that all students are welcomed and may talk freely in the classroom. This event will be held on zoom.
Between the Colonial, the National and the Authoritarian: The Two Faces of Israel’s Regime Overhaul
Thursday, 11/16/2023, 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Between the Colonial, the National and the Authoritarian: The Two Faces of Israel’s Regime Overhaul